


riots of spring

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: Week One: Oblivious [6]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Acts Like a Cat, Friendship, Gen, Struggling with superpowers, adrien augreste 2k19, cat traits, no actual riots take place in this fic, supportive ladybug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-07-31 13:37:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20115961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: "Chat Noir," Ladybug says mildly, and he jerks himself away from the wall he's been absently trailing his claws across.  He winces a little at the deep scratches he's left behind.Ladybug hops down from the fire escape she'd been climbing and studies him intently.  "Are you okay?"Chat Noir shakes his hand out, although that doesn't actually help.  "I'm okay.  It's just-" He glances away, because he knows they've finally reached the weather that means Ladybug's magic has started being a little less frustrating for her.  "Spring.""Oh," is all Ladybug says, but there's a pinched look to her face the rest of the night, as though she's struggling with something.(Spring makes their powers strengthen.  Sometimes that's a difficult thing to deal with).





	riots of spring

**Author's Note:**

> for the 'cardboard' prompt for adrienaugreste2k19

"Chat Noir," Ladybug says mildly, and he jerks himself away from the wall he's been absently trailing his claws across. He winces a little at the deep scratches he's left behind. 

Ladybug hops down from the fire escape she'd been climbing and studies him intently. "Are you okay?"

Chat Noir shakes his hand out, although that doesn't actually help. "I'm okay. It's just-" He glances away, because he knows they've finally reached the weather that means Ladybug's magic has started being a little _less_ frustrating for her. "Spring."

"Oh," is all Ladybug says, but there's a pinched look to her face the rest of the night, as though she's struggling with something. 

"Can we patrol tomorrow too?" she asks him a few hours later, when darting along rooftops and landmarks for half the night hasn't done anything but burn off the barest edge of their restless energy. They don't really need to patrol, akuma aren't exactly subtle and it's wildly impractical for two people alone to patrol all of Paris, but it's too much fun to use their powers for them not to _want_ to.

That's Adrien's reason, anyway. Ladybug has probably put more thought into it and likely has an explanation rooted more thoroughly in logic than that, but he deeply suspects she also just enjoys her powers too much to _not_ want to use them. 

"Of course," Adrien says, as though he was ever going to say anything else. "Meet me at the Pont des Artes?"

Ladybug rolls her eyes at him as they leap and swing to the next roof. It's late enough that they're done for the night, technically, but there's a span of several rooftops along the Seine that they've started trying to end their patrol on whenever they can. There's just enough variation in height and just enough challenge in the spaces between for it to be a fun place for a quick race and a cheerful end to the night. 

They've never actually discussed the way they always try to end their patrols on a high note. That's not just a good idea in Paris anymore, it's a necessary defence. At least part of the reason they patrol at all is to keep each other's moods up. Chat Noir's pretty sure he only hasn't been targeted by any butterflies as a civilian before now because Plagg and Nino both keep a close eye on his mood the rest of the time.

(Adrien wishes he could do the same back for Nino, at least, but even though he tries- and thankfully that day at the zoo at least hadn't resulted in either Nino or Marinette's akumatization, even if it _had_ still ended in an akuma attack- Adrien is nowhere near as good at _reading_ someone else's mood as his best friend is).

"Yes, kitty, I'll meet you at the bridge tomorrow," Ladybug finally says, sighing, as they both drop to a halt on the last building. They didn't bother to race this time, but Chat Noir thinks they landed at the same time anyway. "You know that you can't suggest that as a meeting place _every_ time, right?"

Chat Noir grins as he leans on his baton, intentionally overbalancing so that he stumbles and startles a snicker out of Ladybug. She still reaches out to steady him. "Oh, I can definitely _suggest_ it every time. It's only a matter of how often you'll agree."

Ladybug laughs and lets go of him, raising an eyebrow when he proves to be perfectly steady on his feet after all. "Tomorrow, then."

"Tomorrow," Chat Noir agrees.

Adrien has a lot more difficulty concentrating on class than usual the next day. He has to leave halfway through for a photo shoot, and for once he's grateful for it, because 'stand still and look pretty' does not require half as much concentration as his current chemistry assignment does.

He still gets more than one distressed instruction to please stop looking like his thoughts are wandering off every few minutes and to also, please, please stop fidgeting.

(Adrien didn't use to have so much trouble staying still, at least not for the length of a photo shoot, but ever since he'd first put on Plagg's ring he's had a lot more energy than he used to. That it's spring and both his and Ladybug's abilities seem to strengthen as the winter fades isn't helping).

By the time Adrien gets home all he wants to do is transform immediately and leave to meet Ladybug.

"You know, I don't think I remember the last time you actually _practised_ this thing?" Plagg says conversationally, settling on the piano with a wheel of Camembert mysteriously larger than the last one Adrien remembers handing him.

Adrien rolls his eyes as he checks over both his homework for the next two days and the playlist he's keyed up to allay suspicion. He's glad that most of his teachers have agreed to give him up to a week's homework in advance by now, because not only does it let him keep up even when his other obligations interfere, it also means that an akuma attack doesn't entirely obliterate his schedule. 

Instead an attack only _mostly_ obliterates his schedule.

His father still hasn't questioned how Adrien is managing to complete even obviously interrupted photo shoots. It's a combination of comforting and smoothing things over with the photographers and any other models, and some very creative applications of time management skills that Adrien's secretly very proud of, but he's lost all but the faintest bit of hope that Father's likely to notice _that _any time soon. _Nathalie _hasn't noticed and she's usually the one paying much more attention to that kind of thing.

The Gorilla might have. Maybe. Possibly. Adrien isn't sure how to tell with him, even now.

"Come on, Plagg, you know this is more important." Adrien does sit down at the piano, though, because he might as well until Plagg's done eating.

Plagg pauses and eyes him over his cheese. "You know she's not gonna be there for hours yet, right?"

Adrien blinks back at him.

Plagg groans and devours half the cheese in one bite. "You are absolutely hopeless, kid."

Rolling his eyes, Adrien plays just enough of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring to make Plagg turn towards him with narrowed eyes.

"No," Plagg says flatly. "No, stop that."

"Ohhh, right, you don't _like_ this song," Adrien says, cheerfully. He doesn't stop playing. "Tell my why, again? Or at all? C'mon, Plagg, it's a _classic_."

"I don't owe you an explanation for my tastes," Plagg mutters, before eating the rest of the Camembert just as quickly. "_Fiiiine_, you're not gonna be any use around here until then anyway, are you?"

"Probably not." Adrien grins. "Plagg, transform me!"

His kwami's not wrong, it's _way_ too early to go meet up with Ladybug. That doesn't mean Chat Noir can't spend some time roaming the city by himself. 

Besides, even though it's not like they'd gotten much sleep the night before, Adrien is just as restless now as he was last night. 

Part of him hopes there's an akuma just so that he can burn off some energy. Most of him hopes that there isn't, because he doesn't know if Ladybug will be willing to meet back up afterwards. She might prefer they both go home rather than re-transform. 

He doesn't particularly feel like talking to anyone _besides_ Ladybug right now, though, so he turns fairly quickly down a path he's taken too many times before. Chat Noir sprints along a low line of rooftops, handsprings onto several higher ones, dives across a street and rolls onto a fire escape before taking a detour through a building marked for demolition- a building that, he's noticed, has been marked for demolition since sometime _before_ he ever became Chat Noir.

He wonders, not for the first time, how often it's actually been demolished in an akuma attack before now. He wonders how many times Ladybug's Miraculous Cure has set it back upright.

He's not sure what the building used to be before it stood empty. He _thinks_ it was probably an office building, because that's what the layout suggests to him, but it really could have been anything. 

Usually he keeps going. Usually he vaults from here into a more industrialized part of the city and continues to explore. Maybe it's too suspicious to come back to the interesting places as Adrien, but as Chat Noir he has no reason _not_ to investigate anything that happens to catch his eye- and he has every reason to indulge his curiosity as much as he likes.

Usually he comes through a floor above this one, and so he's never seen the room full of discarded boxes before.

He barely hesitates.

He doesn't know how long it's been before he hears resigned muttering, coming closer to where he's curled up on a nest of shredded cardboard shoved inside the biggest still-intact box he could find.

His ears flick but he only purrs contentedly, recognising the voice.

Ladybug leans over the edge of his chosen box, looks at him, and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Kitty. You were supposed to meet me an hour ago. I had to use your locator to find you." She drops her arm and stares at him. "Have you been here this whole time?"

Chat Noir purrs louder and shreds more of the cardboard around him, flipping onto his side to reach more of it.

"This is not- oh for-" Ladybug looks like she's struggling for a moment, then sighs and vaults over the edge of the box to join him.

"You know," she says, tiredly, reaching over to put one hand on his shoulder and then rolling her eyes when he blinks up at her. "The whole reason I wanted to meet up tonight was that I asked Tikki about- whether there was anything she knew that could help with, uh." Ladybug looks around their box. "This."

Adrien doesn't particularly want to move at this point, but he still blinks up at her and asks with interest, "Did she?"

"Oh, good, you remembered how to use your words." Ladybug's voice is dry, but from the way her hand clenches on his shoulder he thinks she might have been more worried than she's letting on. "No. She said the first few springs are the worst and then we should be acclimated enough that we're not affected so strongly."

Chat Noir doesn't sit up at that, but he does prop himself up on one elbow to stare at her. Ladybug's hand slides off his shoulder, but she's sitting close enough that he doesn't mind that too much. "The first _few_ springs?"

Ladybug gives him an exhausted smile. "She was very clear about it being the first _few_ springs, yes. Clearer than she probably needed to be." She ruffles his hair. "They're gonna stay with us, minou. Tikki didn't say how long but- but they're gonna stay. Hawkmoth or not."

He blinks at her again. "Is _that_ what you wanted to meet up about?"

She returns his slow blink with an exhausted smile. "Yeah. I had to ask Tikki first, but yeah." She looks down, brushing dust from her suit. Miraculous Cure is thorough; even the dust in this building never looks disturbed. "I know you were worried, too."

"Too?" Adrien shifts again, absently shredding more cardboard with one clawed hand even as he leans against the wall. Ladybug hastily settles against the opposite wall so that the box doesn't go toppling over with them both inside.

"I don't want to lose Tikki, either." Ladybug's voice is quiet. "She's more than just my kwami."  
****

Adrien thinks painfully of all the times Plagg has bullied him into eating more, or spent time with him when his father was busy, or pushed Adrien to transform and head out into the city to burn off some of his pent-up restless energy. Not all of that restlessness can be attributed to their transformations. "Yeah. I know."

Ladybug sighs and stretches out, her legs brushing against his own in the confined space. "I know it isn't safe, but I wish Master- I wish the guardian would let me leave the other's Miraculous with them."

Adrien doesn't respond immediately. He's not sure how to. He understands why she can't tell him who the others are, but he still doesn't like it. "I do know his name now, you know, I've met him."

"We still shouldn't say it out loud while we're transformed," Ladybug reminds him gently, and Adrien winces. 

That's probably a good illustration all on its own of why Master Fu's never trusted _him_ to hand out a Miraculous.

He rubs the back of his neck, not looking at Ladybug. "I guess. We know it's definitely not safe for Chloe, anyway. But- Carapace and Rena Rouge don't seem likely to pull an Iron Man stunt any time soon. You'd think it would be safer to leave their Miraculous _with_ them than keep ferrying them back and forth, wouldn't you?"

Ladybug blows out a breath. "And it leaves a trail back and forth to the guardian every time. You're not wrong, minou, but I trust him to have a reason." She lets her head thump back against the cardboard wall, hastily pulling forward again when she nearly goes through the side of the box. "Okay, I _mostly _trust him to have a reason."

Adrien pulls his tail around and into his lap, fiddling with the buckle. He doesn't look up as he says, "It'd probably help Chloe to have a kwami, you know."

"I know." Ladybug passes one hand across her face, wincing. "Believe me, I know. I don't exactly know how I _feel_ about it but I know."

"Do you think-" Adrien falls silent, but Ladybug has plenty of practice reading him by now.

"Maybe we can convince him with Carapace and Rena Rouge." She reaches out and puts her hand over his, resting her palm over the back of his hand but not trying to stop his fidgeting. Ladybug never minds his fidgeting. "But Chloe's still too much of a risk. I wish she wasn't, I do think Pollen's good for her, but I think we're better off focusing on Rena and-" She winces again. "Aaand there might be a problem with leaving Carapace his Miraculous, too."

"Oh... right. Wayzz." Chat Noir's ears flatten as he thinks of something else. "I"m also picturing Chloe with bee traits and it's a little horrifying."

"I don't think it's supposed to hit the others the same way it does the ladybug and black cat Miraculous." Ladybug's noise wrinkles in a way that makes Adrien lose track of his thoughts temporarily. "Although I guess we don't actually know if that's related to how much time we spend with our kwami."

Adrien shifts restlessly again.

Ladybug leans forward then, but only enough to tug Chat Noir's baton free from the small of his back. She raises an eyebrow at him as he relaxes far more comfortably. Ladybug twists the baton into two halves and tosses him one. Absently, he tosses it back. 

She tosses it back again, and then after they've thrown it back and forth a few times she slips the other half in so that they're both juggling his baton. Chat Noir's tail is flicking happily and he's purring a considerable amount before Ladybug picks up the thread of conversation again. "I can try to talk to him about it when I see him. Maybe if we point out that it's getting more dangerous to run back and forth, he'll agree with us." She tilts her head. "We can meet up and plan for the next few nights, at least."

They don't need to meet for the next few nights. They definitely don't need anywhere near that much time to plan.

But he feels a lot better for having spent time together, for having the time to indulge some of his more feline traits, and he doesn't think he's imagining that Ladybug looks a lot more relaxed as well.

That's important, especially as spring makes their powers hit harder. They can't risk their emotions overwhelming them and the best method of protection they have is each other. 

Adrien swallows and gestures at the box around them, his claws momentarily catching against the cardboard before he rips them free. "Can we keep meeting here?"

Ladybug snickers as he shakes cardboard from his claws. "Of course, minou, provided you don't shred it." She clambers to her feet and offers him a hand up. "I'll be earlier tomorrow."

He flushes as he takes her hand. "You don't have to do that."

"No." She flashes him a grin that feels like it should have his fangs behind it. "But I will."

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact the rite of spring caused a riot (of debatable severity, the records are a bit unclear) at its paris premiere


End file.
